Dauner to Castle Hill

Thousands of cars pass over the bridge at Kittoch Glen, but few of their occupants will know that two mottes lie just off to their side.

To be fair, Castle Hill and Rough Hill look just like tree covered hills. It’s only when you get close that you notice the artificially flattened tops.

I like the idea that Rough Hill motte was built first as a sort of trial run, but there are suggestions that the buildings of Castle Hill motte were wooden, while those on Rough Hill were stone, which actually suggests the opposite.

There’s little known about these two, but they lie almost halfway between the tower houses of Mains Castle and The Peel, and both of those have earlier mottes close by. Does that suggest that these belonged to another family altogether, or was there just a whole mess of motte building going on roundabout?

We parked in Kittoch Muir, a modern estate designed to look old with lots of white peeling plasterwork, but great streetnames: Davie’s Acre is a wonderful name (which maybe explains why they’re so expensive).

There’s a steep drop from the level of the houses, with the hill rolling down into the glen itself on the right, and the motte straight ahead going down into the ditch and then up a steep incline. On top, it’s very clear that the ground has been flattened and there’s actually a surprising amount of space, with a great view in both directions along the glen.

Walking around the base of the motte, its position becomes clear, high above the water. I doubt if it would have taken long for medieval weaponry to catch up with its location though. I’m pretty sure a decent lowbowman would have been able to reach it from the other side of the glen.

The glen itself is just begging to be explored, and reminded me of the fields I wandered through as a kid, with wandering paths through waist high grass and stinging nettles and the smell of the water close by. As an adult I dread what’s hiding in that water, but my inner child was desperate to go look closer.